Box Score (pdf) |
Highlights |
Photo Gallery
Bronx, N.Y. – A year ago, the Fordham women's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit on the road at Georgetown to win and advance in the WNIT. On Friday night, this time playing at home against Harvard, the Rams overturned a nine-point deficit at the interval with an outstanding second-half effort, outscoring the Crimson, 41-14, to advance to the second round of the WNIT with a 65-47 win.
"Super effort in the second half led to a great win over a really good Harvard team tonight," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley, "I'm proud of the toughness we showed. Our tough schedule paid off with a memorable postseason win!"
The Rams took a 13-12 lead at the first quarter media timeout on a
Mary Goulding jumper but fell into a scoring slump for the rest of the first half as Harvard finished on a 21-11 run to take a 33-24 lead into the break. Fordham turned it around over the final 20 minutes, though, by holding the Crimson to consecutive seven-point quarters en route to a runaway victory, the team's 11
th straight this season when holding an opponent under 50 points.
Fordham's turnaround was sparked by redshirt freshman
Bre Cavanaugh's 13 third-quarter points, including a personal 8-0 run, the steady two-way play of senior
G'mrice Davis, and an all-around terrific defensive team performance in the second half.
What began as an even, back-and-forth affair turned in the Crimson's favor as they went on a 7-0 run out of that initial media timeout. Harvard's 7-0 run was split between three different players, with Taylor Rooks canning a three-pointer to reach 10 points early and followed by jumpers by Katie Benzan and Madeline Raster to finish the first quarter. Sydney Skinner's layup to start the second quarter made it nine straight before a Davis layup temporarily halted the slide. Harvard responded with an 8-2 run over the next five minutes to prompt a Gaitley timeout with 4:04 left in the half and Harvard leading, 29-17. After Skinney gave the visitors their largest lead of the night, 31-17, out of the break,
Lauren Holden hit a three off an offensive rebound and the Rams ended the first half with a 7-4 run to bring it back to single digits.
The second half started slowly, without a basket or point for more than 150 seconds. It was Cavanaugh, though, to get things started, with a wide-open three-pointer from the near wing in front of her team's bench that started that personal 8-0 run that brought the deficit down to one by the 6:23 mark of the third quarter. During the run, Cavanaugh converted an and-one play and ran coast-to-coast for a layup after a
Johanna Klug steal on the other end. Taylor Rooks responded with a three to get back up four but Holden drilled one in response that kickstarted a 9-0 run to give Fordham the lead for good. Goulding's layup at the 4:58 mark, fouled in the process, gave Fordham the lead, 37-36, and the junior hit the freebie on the other side of the media timeout. A Katie Benzan three at the start of the fourth quarter would get back within one, 44-43, but it was all Fordham thereafter.
Fordham found another gear in the fourth quarter, entering with a four point lead and then after the Benzan triple. Over the next seven minutes of the fourth quarter, the Rams held Harvard to just one point on 0-of-9 shooting from the field and just one free throw. Meanwhile, Fordham converted 4-of-5 field goals and 7-of-8 free thrws to pull away with a 15-1 run. Madeline Raster's three-pointer with 1:11 left in regulation was the first field goal since that Benzan three. Holden and Goulding iced the game with six combined free throws down the stretch.
Cavanaugh led the way with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting, 3-of-10 from deep, and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, adding seven rebounds and a block across 39 minutes. Davis finished with a sixth straight double-double, 27
th on the year, and 57
th for her career, most among active players, with 12 points and 12 rebounds to go with a career-high five assists, plus two steals, over 40 minutes. Goulding and Holden combined for 25 points, as well, with the former hitting 7-of-7 free throws and the latter chipping in two three-pointers, three rebounds, and two steals.
Fordham, at one point shooting 30% from the floor late in the first half, finished the game at 40.8% shooting overall, besting Harvard's mark of 35.3%. The Crimson shot 42.9% from downtown compared to the Rams' 27.8% clip but hit just 2-of-4 free throws on the night while Fordham tied a season-high with 22 attempts and making a season-high of 20 (90.9%). The Rams also won the battle of the glass, 37-26, including a 10-7 margin on the offensive glass.
The Rams now travel to Drexel for their second round match-up on Sunday, with tip-off set for 4 p.m.
